Game on Girl

The Handmaid’s Tale For the next episode in our TGE Watches series, Isabela and I discuss the Hulu Original series: The Handmaid’s Tale. We discussed the series several times as it was airing, and had differing thoughts and opinions about it. These differences make for a pretty lively and engaging discussion. Series Description Adapted from the classic novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism in its militarized ‘return to traditional values’. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate the world. In this terrifying society, Offred must navigate between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her. Our Discussion We touch on three major topics during this discussion which all focus on our differing perspectives as viewers. First we discuss how the show stays true to the source material and how it differs. The impact this has on the story told is pretty profound. We touch on the different emotional responses we had to the themes of motherhood. I found some of the scenes that involved June’s daughter to be particularly difficult, not because of the content but because I can so imagine my own emotional response as a mother. Lastly, we analyze how race is represented in Gliead in this modern, visual medium and how that is also a significant departure from the book. To Discuss: Did you watch The Handmaid’s Tale? What drew you to the story and kept you watching? If not, have you avoided it for a specific reason? We love hearing your comments! Let us know your thoughts below. Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Isabela  

Did someone say Goblin Battle??!! Episode 5 left our adventurers in a bit of a pickle. In fact, in the business we call that a cliff hanger. After scouting out a Goblin camp, the group discovers that there is a survivor being held captive by the gang of goblins they followed after finding signs of the previous scouting party. A goblin battle prevails! This episode finds our heroes in some real trouble, fighting tooth and nail for the sake of the group. We have some fun rolls, some crazy things happen, and we all have great fun. We sure hope you enjoy watching! Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Mark & Dante & Isabela & Evan To Discuss What is your favorite weapon to wield in an RPG game? Video or tabletop? What makes it so enjoyable to play? I take some great satisfaction wielding Neraden’s Great Ax, I’ll admit, and Dante’s pleasure at roaming fireballs is amazing.   The Characters Hargath (Mark)Human ClericAlignment: Neutral Good Hargath is a reformed murderer/thief. He became a member of Sarenrae’s order after a cleric from the order showed him mercy. At 36, he started his Cleric teachings older than most and his blond hair has begun to grey. Recently he had a falling out with the church he was based out of due to discovering the chief priest there embezzling gold for his own purposes. He now looks to find adventurers that he can travel with in the hopes of finding a new church and helping anyone he can along the way. Whether that means healing people, bringing evil-doers to the light or smiting  evil that won’t makes little difference to him. Sevarka Sunseeker (Dante)Gnome SorceressAlignment: Neutral Good The cheerfully optimistic, orange skinned, green haired gnome called Sevarka Sunseeker describes herself as a professional nomad. Friend to all she comes across, her delightful facade hides a family secret. Generations ago, a dragon assumed gnomish form bedded one of the Sunseeker family progenitors. The eldest born daughter of each Sunseeker generation manifests aspects of the dragon and inherits its magical​ talents. Sevarka is the first born daughter of her generation, and wanders to discover the the origins of her draconic blood and what that means for the legacy of the Sunseeker clan. Neraden Runka (Regina)Dwarf BarbarianAlignment: Neutral Good Neraaden (Nera like Vera for short) is the middle daughter of a large dwarf family. With 10 siblings, she feels underappreciated and overlooked by her family. She leaves her family with dreams of finding success on the road but encounters disaster almost as soon as she leaves. She persevered as she journeyed farther and father from home, hoping one day she might return home a celebrated hero. Freya Redsun (Isabela)Half-Elf RangerAlignment: Neutral Good Freya is a half-elf that is striking out on her own after clashing with her elfish mother one too many times. She wants to find out who she is without the influence of her family. Freya’s mother was born into a royal elvish family but gave up the luxuries of that life to be with the human man she came to love. Freya carries the weight of her mother’s sacrifice with heavy resentment.

TGE Watches Summer continues and the biggest summer movie of the year is the feature on the latest episode of TGE Watches!* <do doo dut do> Wonder Woman! <do doo dut do> But seriously folks, this summer's Wonder Woman movie has been the topic of much debate and discussion all over the internets. As a long time fan with a very serious personal connection to Wonder Woman, I'll be the first to admit that I was worried how well my favorite Amazon princess might be treated on the big screen. I'm thankful for the outcome. As usual, we discuss the movie in great detail. It's three weeks today since it opened so I am not too concerned about that. But consider yourself warned anyway! Ryan takes a measured response and is not too terribly celebratory of the movie. Mark lands much in the space space as Ryan. They both had far more negatives about the movie than I had which is great because they balance out my OMG THIS IS THE BEST EVER vibe. (Even though I feel like some points were rather nitpicky.) Watch the episode to see what our final tally is on total thumbs up. (Spoiler: I gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up!) Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Mark & Ryan To Discuss What did you watch Wonder Woman? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.  

Finding the Path: Episode 5 of The Keeper of the Dead Saga Greeting Geeks! Finding the path is the next move in our adventurers’ journey. It’s not a clear move forward after running into a giant spider nest but our adventurers persevere. They find new complexities await them at the base of the mountains. Each episode takes them closer to the final dangers they will face. The road is not clear and easy; instead, it is covered with dead and decaying forest but also some more dangerous and sentient creatures. As the new player to pen and paper role playing campaigns, I make sure to slow down and ask about the rules at several points in this episode. I realized at one point that we were skimming over some pretty important play mechanics. Since a key component of The Geek Embassy’s mission is to help facilitate learning, I wanted to make sure we covered exactly what was happening during the fighting. And anyway, the fights are the best part of the adventure. Well, that and Evan’s voice characterizations. Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Mark & Isabela, & Dante & Evan To Discuss What is your favorite fantasy race to play? Do you pick races that are similar to you in real life or the opposite? Neither?    

Parental Figures Have All the Fun You love them… most of the time. Some are good, some are bad, some are so good we tear up talking about them. For this hangout, we share our favorite parental figures from TV shows, movies, and books. We combined May and June’s hangout into one epic conversation. I had the idea to talk about favorite moms for May’s hangout since we were scheduled to record around Mother’s Day. When we had to reschedule, it made sense to make it a May and June parental figures celebration. Each of us came with a different set of priorities and considerations for the characters we shared.  One ambassador had a truly epic list. (Cough cough Dante cough cough.) One of the most interesting ideas that we cover is how rarely we think about parental characters just in general. It’s easy and natural to talk about heroes or heroines, villains and even minions. But sitting down to think about favorite mentors and parents is something we rarely consider. Give it a listen and let us know what you think! Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Isabela & Dante & Evan To Discuss Obviously, share your favorite parents or parental figures.    

Denizens of the Vastwood: Episode 4 of The Keeper of the Dead Saga Greetings Geeks! Have you been anxiously awaiting the next chapter in our journey? Wait no longer, dear adventurer! Episode 4 of our adventure takes our traveling band of would be heroes deeper into the darkness of the Vastwood. We encounter more than a few dangerous creatures in this leg of our journey. Episode 3 – Perils of the Gartooth Swamp – saw our first fight so we pick up this episode amidst the fallout from that fight. The denizens of Vastwood are less than welcoming. Each of our characters reacts differently to the fallout from the fight and taking the next step forward as we search for the trinket that set us on this path. To Discuss What is your worst nightmare in a story? What would you do if that nightmare happened to your character? Miss an episode? Watch the entire series here! Until next time, get your geek on! Regina, Isabela, Dante, Mark, and Evan    

The Perils of Gartooth Swamp And away we go where the perils abound! This week finds our adventurers in the thick of the action. Hargath, Sevarka, Nera, and Freya finally on foot entering the swamp and they run into their first foe. The excitement builds in this episode as our adventurers begin to understand the depth of the dangers present in the Vastwood. But our party will not be intimidated by the size of the foes they will fight! No! We will press ever onward. Don’t miss this episode where you can see Nera (Regina) roll terribly but still swing a big axe, watch Sevarka (Dante) joke around, Hargarth (Mark) do some magical serious damage, and Freya (Isabela) aim her bow for the first time. We laugh a lot and hope you will too! To Discuss What is your favorite class to play in a role playing game? Do you play pen and paper or digitally? Never played but want to? Ask us about our experiences! Watch a playlist the whole series here.

Episode 2 – Flotsam 7 Jetsam Greetings Geeks! We continue our role play adventure with the next segment in our Pathfinder campaign. We begin the journey we started in our first episode, after spending the night in the Vagabond’s Rest deep in the Vastwood. Our adventurers start on the first leg of their journey after being bestowed a map from their employer, Ruchior. The party seeks a guide and safe passage down the treacherous rain-swollen Varidan River and into the wilds beyond. Join us as we learn to play Pathfinder and enjoy this story crafted for us by Evan. Until next time, get your geek on! Regina, Evan, Isabela, Mark, and Dante Pathfinder Characters Hargath (Mark)Human ClericAlignment: Neutral Good Hargath is a reformed murderer/thief. He became a member of Sarenrae’s order after a cleric from the order showed him mercy. At 36, he started his Cleric teachings older than most and his blond hair has begun to grey. Recently he had a falling out with the church he was based out of due to discovering the chief priest there embezzling gold for his own purposes. He now looks to find adventurers that he can travel with in the hopes of finding a new church and helping anyone he can along the way. Whether that means healing people, bringing evil-doers to the light or smiting  evil that won’t makes little difference to him. Sevarka Sunseeker (Dante)Gnome SorceressAlignment: Neutral Good The cheerfully optimistic, orange skinned, green haired gnome called Sevarka Sunseeker describes herself as a professional nomad. Friend to all she comes across, her delightful facade hides a family secret. Generations ago, a dragon assumed gnomish form bedded one of the Sunseeker family progenitors. The eldest born daughter of each Sunseeker generation manifests aspects of the dragon and inherits its magical​ talents. Sevarka is the first born daughter of her generation, and wanders to discover the the origins of her draconic blood and what that means for the legacy of the Sunseeker clan. Neraden Runka (Regina)Dwarf BarbarianAlignment: Neutral Good Neraaden (Nera like Vera for short) is the middle daughter of a large dwarf family. With 10 siblings, she feels underappreciated and overlooked by her family. She leaves her family with dreams of finding success on the road but encounters disaster almost as soon as she leaves. She persevered as she journeyed farther and father from home, hoping one day she might return home a celebrated hero. Freya Redsun (Isabela)Half-Elf RangerAlignment: Neutral Good Freya is a half-elf that is striking out on her own after clashing with her elfish mother one too many times. She wants to find out who she is without the influence of her family. Freya’s mother was born into a royal elvish family but gave up the luxuries of that life to be with the human man she came to love. Freya carries the weight of her mother’s sacrifice with heavy resentment.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 The Geek Embassy returns with our Summer Movie Series. Each month for summer, Mark, Ryan, and I will share our thoughts and critiques of some summer blockbuster movies. We launch the series with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 because of course we are. We start out our discussion with initial impressions which come back favorable. Ryan mentions the concern that the movie might become the "Baby Groot Show" and how the clever intro sequence put those concerns to rest. From there we spend some time talking about what we love about the movie (a lot) and what we disliked (not much). We were all impressed with how strong the character development was throughout the movie. They started with some well established and enjoyable characters. A lot is at stake with characters that are beloved from a single movie. Mark observes that this is one sequel that stays in the same league as the original film. That is hard to come by. Watch and listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments. We are also looking for movies to see in August and September and are open to suggestions! Next month we see Wonder Woman because of course we are. Until next time, get your geek on! Regina, Mark, and Ryan To Discuss Topics we considered: Favorite/least favorite moments. Favorite special effect. Favorite song/musical moment. Favorite theme. (Clearly, the importance of chosen family.)    

Greetings Fellow Adventurers! On this holiest of geeky holidays, International Tabletop Day, The Geek Embassy welcomes you to follow us on a Pathfinder role play adventure. Isabela, Mark, Dante and I will take our newly rolled characters on an adventure hand crafted for us by Evan Graham. In today’s intro video, we share with you our character backstories, and a few hints about the story we will be exploring. This campaign will be a journey in exploration and learning for me. This is my first ever pen and paper role play experience. I’ve wanted to jump into a true role playing game since I started my dissertation research almost 10 years ago. I noted in one of the texts I used how ironic it was that role players are often disparaged for their “performance” but we pay movie actors huge amounts of money to play scripted characters. It takes so much more imagination and innovation to improv a character in a setting like this. As you will see just from this introduction, I have a lot to learn. I’m delighted to share my experience with the community here. I hope you all will join us on our journey and watch and learn along with me. Let’s get this party started! Geek on! Regina, Isabela, Mark, Dante, and Evan The Keeper of the Dead Seeking shelter from an encroaching storm, our band of adventurers stumble across the Halfway Inn, deep in the heart of the Vastwood. As they settle in for the night, they make the acquaintance of Ruchior the Antiquarian, and his strange wooden companion Davenport. Here they learn of a great danger lurking deep in the wilderness beyond… Pathfinder Characters Hargath (Mark)Human ClericAlignment: Neutral Good Hargath is a reformed murderer/thief. He became a member of Sarenrae’s order after a cleric from the order showed him mercy. At 36, he started his Cleric teachings older than most and his blond hair has begun to grey. Recently he had a falling out with the church he was based out of due to discovering the chief priest there embezzling gold for his own purposes. He now looks to find adventurers that he can travel with in the hopes of finding a new church and helping anyone he can along the way. Whether that means healing people, bringing evil-doers to the light or smiting  evil that won’t makes little difference to him. Sevarka Sunseeker (Dante)Gnome SorceressAlignment: Neutral Good The cheerfully optimistic, orange skinned, green haired gnome called Sevarka Sunseeker describes herself as a professional nomad. Friend to all she comes across, her delightful facade hides a family secret. Generations ago, a dragon assumed gnomish form bedded one of the Sunseeker family progenitors. The eldest born daughter of each Sunseeker generation manifests aspects of the dragon and inherits its magical​ talents. Sevarka is the first born daughter of her generation, and wanders to discover the the origins of her draconic blood and what that means for the legacy of the Sunseeker clan. Neraden Runka (Regina)Dwarf BarbarianAlignment: Neutral Good Neraaden (Nera like Vera for short) is the middle daughter of a large dwarf family. With 10 siblings, she feels underappreciated and overlooked by her family. She leaves her family with dreams of finding success on the road but encounters disaster almost as soon as she leaves. She persevered as she journeyed farther and father from home, hoping one day she might return home a celebrated hero. Freya Redsun (Isabela)Half-Elf RangerAlignment: Neutral Good Freya is a half-

Come on. Admit it. You've taken a Harry Potter house quiz or two. It's a great geeky time killer at the very least. This month, we decided to take a few quizzes and compare results. Isabela, Evan, and I have lots of opinions about all things Harry Potter, not just the house definitions and meanings. We open with a brief discussion of Fantastic Beasts and The Cursed Child to kick off our discussion. I get all the names wrong. All of them. For those who might not be as well versed in the Hogwarts houses, summaries of each house (taken from the Harry Potter Wiki) Gryffindor values bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry. Its emblematic animal is the lion and its colors are scarlet and gold. Hufflepuff values hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play. Its emblematic animal is the badger, and Yellow and Black are its colors. Ravenclaw values intelligence, knowledge, and wit. Its emblematic animal is the eagle, and its colors are blue and bronze. Slytherin house values ambition, cunning and resourcefulness and was founded by Salazar Slytherin. Its emblematic animal is the serpent, and its colors are emerald green and silver. The fandom dedicated to Harry Potter is highly devoted and there are many ways to look at the Hogwarts Houses. We have a great time discussing the quizzes and our own desires to "self sort" into the house we truly feel the most aligned to. Quiz and Article Links Buzzfeed - What Is Your Hogwarts House Percentage? Pottermore - The Sorting Hat Personality Lab - Find Your Hogwarts House - Harry Potter Sorting Hat Personality Test The Sorting Hat Chats - The Basics of Our Sorting System (article - no quiz) Until next time, get your geek on! Regina, Isabela, and Evan To Discuss What is your Harry Potter house? Are we friends or house enemies?  

Guilty pleasures! We had a great time at this hangout. We first discuss what makes something a guilty pleasure. We decided it's often something you don't talk much about, you generally don't tell your friends or your family about it. Sometimes it might make you feel a little embarrassed that you enjoy it so much. Or it might be a show or movie that you watch and watch over and over again.  Isabela previously discussed how guilty pleasures are often code for feminine. Romances are often described as guilty pleasures. One of the ideas we mention is they are often more light hearted or popcorn entertainment.  The most amusing part of this hangout for me was hearing us defend each other's guilty pleasures and then finally finding something Mark considered a guilty pleasure, even if he didn't want to admit it.  Until next time, get your geek on! Regina & Isabela & Mark & Julie

Capes & Baskets: What Fairy Tales Can Teach Us about Superheroes Were you unable to attend Geek Girl Con or Wizard World in Portland, Oregon? Have you always wanted to see The Geek Embassy's ambassadors in action? Well, now is your chance! For our recent presentation in Portland, I was able to record our panel on my phone on a mini tripod recommended by a photographer friend of the show, Andrew. The sound isn't great but I think you can hear each of us well enough. Isabela is the faintest since she is farthest from the mic. I truly adore this presentation. It represents the best of The Geek Embassy: a bunch of geeks merging their interests into a completely new idea. The genesis of this presentation came from me and Jen having cocktails one spring afternoon. All of sudden I had out a notepad and we were sketching through the ideas that ended up becoming the basis for this presentation. To Discuss: Capes & Baskets What fairy tales do you love? What superhero stories could you relate to that fairy tale? Can you make the connection? Want to challenge us to?

Capes & Baskets: What Fairy Tales Can Teach Us about Superheroes Were you unable to attend Geek Girl Con or Wizard World in Portland, Oregon? Have you always wanted to see The Geek Embassy's ambassadors in action? Well, now is your chance! For our recent presentation in Portland, I was able to record our panel on my phone on a mini tripod recommended by a photographer friend of the show, Andrew. The sound isn't great but I think you can hear each of us well enough. Isabela is the faintest since she is farthest from the mic. I truly adore this presentation. It represents the best of The Geek Embassy: a bunch of geeks merging their interests into a completely new idea. The genesis of this presentation came from me and Jen having cocktails one spring afternoon. All of sudden I had out a notepad and we were sketching through the ideas that ended up becoming the basis for this presentation. To Discuss: Capes & Baskets What fairy tales do you love? What superhero stories could you relate to that fairy tale? Can you make the connection? Want to challenge us to?

Relationships Those we love, those we wish for, and those we mourn. For our February hangout, we discuss relationships. We talk about canon couples: those fictional couples who set the bar for love and romantic gestures. But we've talked about those geeky relationship moments before so to spice this up we threw in our favorite doomed couples and our favorite "ships" or relationships we wish for. AKA "Fanon." We've got some crazy matches in store for you and some sad couples who either had tragic ends or tragically ended their shows because they ended up together. (Writers: don't kill the sexual tension! It really ends things!) My 'ship couple brought up quite a bit of discussion and some creative ideas. Check it out to see what crazy world we really would like to see come about. We WRaP the end of the episode with what we are Watching, Reading, and Playing. So much great geeky material to discuss! Make sure to check out the live video and the podcast episode. Until next time, get  your geek on! Regina & Isabela & Julie & Dante To Discuss Tell us:  Your favorite couples? Who do you 'ship? Who is doomed but awesome in your mind?